ALLEN PARK — Nothing new about the Detroit Lions defensive preparation for the Green Bay Packers.

“It’s a normal week of practice around here, change a couple of DBs and get ready for the next game,’’ defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. “I looked at Tim Walton (defensive backs coach), he looked like he’s dead — I had to slap him a couple times to wake him up in the meeting.’’

Perhaps not, but still it’s a weekly challenge thanks to a host of defensive back injuries.

With Louis Delmas doubtful and Amari Spievey out, Ricardo Silva could get his fourth straight start. He’ll likely be alongside Don Carey, who was re-signed by the Lions on Nov. 1. Erik Coleman, who started last week but got a bad poke in the eye which caused bad headaches, is expected to play too. John Wendling, who mostly plays special teams, could also rotate in at safety.

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At cornerback Chris Houston and Jacob Lacey are expected to start for the third straight game. Houston sprained his ankle last Sunday, but is listed as questionable for Sunday. Jonte Green and Drayton Florence will rotate in. It’s uncertain if newcomer Pat Lee, who was claimed off waivers on Tuesday, will know the system well enough to play.

To ratchet up the difficulty, the Lions are facing Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers who Cunningham compares to Dan Marino and Joe Montana because he’s got a great arm and is intelligent too.

“We’re in for a major league challenge this week. The receivers are all tough. ... He spreads the ball around. You can’t really focus on one guy if you try to double up on one of their guys the other guy will eat you up, we’ll have to play them all.’’

The Lions total defense is ranked 10th in the NFL — ninth against the pass, 19th against the run. They’ve had some good stretches, but like the offense, they’ve also been inconsistent.

“We’ve had some really good games. What we have a tendency to do, we’ve played a lot in the first half, then the offense catches fire, and what we need to guard against is letdown,’’ Cunningham said. ‘I’ve told them you go in a game, you don’t care about what the score is, you just keep playing. We need to play together. We had a couple communication errors last week.’’

One play, in particular upset him. It was the 20-yard touchdown pass from Christian Ponder to tight end Kyle Rudolph.

“There’s no excuse. We all knew the play was coming. Everybody all the coaches all the players on the sidelines and the ones on the field and one guy missed his shot and it cost us,’’ Cunningham said.

The issue wasn’t in coverage it was in the rush.

“On that particular play we missed the rush lane, we got pushed out of it, he walked up had clear air,’’ Cunningham said. “It was like throwing 7 on 7. that was on the pass rush.’’

Rodgers is dangerous from any distance but particularly long-distance. Cunningham said he’s ranked 19th for deep balls percentagewise, but he makes the most of them with 10 touchdowns from them. No other quarterback is close.

The secondary is going to need some help from the linebackers and the line.

“That front seven makes a lot of money so I’m going to put more pressure on them, I don’t care if they don’t like it, I’ll just show them the paycheck they get,’’ Cunningham said. “They have to protect the rest of us. One thing you have to do as a signal caller, is you roll the coverages never give the quarterback too many of the same looks because they’re not stupid. Aaron Rodgers could have gone to Harvard easy. You give him the same look he’ll chew you up. If you have a deficiency here and there because of injuries, you have to protect those guys you have to know how to do it.’’

So that’s the plan against the Packers: Increased pressure from the front seven, better communication, no letdowns no matter the score and give Rodgers plenty of different looks.